Gotta get Debt Free

LAM2011

Just look at your signature though! What an achievement so far. Hopefully things will get back on track for you soon. hugs xx

shy2011

Hi Knitty

Really hope things start to look up for you soon. Hopefully some work will come around for hubby and you can get back to the debt busting. Lam is right look at how far you have come. Keep your chin up.
Shy x

Knitty78

So I'm back again, and the debt is slightly higher than it was in January which is a bit of a pain. I will update sig in a minute but it currently sits at £10,370.04. Lots of little things gone on my cashback card with the intention to clear with cash but obviously this isn't working for me!

We're having our flat valued on Tuesday with a view to sell so now really is the time to knuckle down and get cracking with clearing the debt.

Husband is still on a contract, I know he's trying to get a more permanent role but no luck so far. He's in this job till July so I'll try to clear as much as possible between now and then and fingers cross something else comes up in the mean time.

Knitty78

What a weekend, it was an eye-opener! Virtually a no-spend one, Ocado delivery so groceries but no other spends on top. Should be another no-spend day today as I have my lunch with me. Payday tomorrow but also getting a valuation done on the flat so a very quick £150 out of the account (we need to pay as it's shared ownership and if we want to sell we need it valued by an independant RICS surveyor).

I told my OH what my debt is and what I'm planning over the coming months. It appears he's been keeping a lid on his financial situation and is pretty much broke. He's been having to pay fees on his bank account as he's gone over his overdrafts and he had some direct debits refused. He's also got over £17000 of his own debt (when I calculate this I didn't include his overdrafts - I'll admit in shock I forgot). So the plan is to get him back into the black (or at least with enough in his account to pay the bills and stop the charges) and then tackle my debt first. It makes me a little sad that he didn't feel he could talk to be about this earlier, but he's never had this level of debt before and I think he was a bit ashamed.

Knitty78

Just a little last day of the month update. My debt is now under £10,000 again! Only just but I'm getting there. And, we can't sell the flat as we're still in negative equity so we're going to sit tight till the beginning of next year (March) and then have another go. I've dug out some things to eBay so that's going to be my challenge for June. I'm also thinking of clearing out my wardrobe and ebaying the things I don't want/need any more. Even if I sell them for 99p each it gets them out of my flat and every little helps towards the debts.

Knitty78

So, I updated my snowball on whats the cost and according to that, with my lower montly payments I will be debt free in February 2017! This is if I were to pay the minimum payments every month only, so this of course will not be my debt free date as I want it (much) sooner than that! I'm not going to update it with the extra I can overpay per month as my OH is still contracting, so I'll leave it be so that if the worst happens and he loses his job again it gives an accurate debt free date at the current time. Obviously I can and will overpay when he is working and this in itself will bring that date closer.

I also got the email about the free listing day on eBay, so the next few days will be spent photographing and getting things ready so I can list away at the weekend!

Knitty78

I'm struggling a bit today. I've been in debt for so long and I know I've deviated from paying it off along the way but I am truly fed up with it. I spend over £200 a month on minimum payments, we have no savings and all I see ahead of me is months of scrimping and saving. It's made worse by OH not really being on plan and still wanting to have a life - the amount he has deemed he needs for this is £800 a month. For him alone (although I'm being unfair as he often likes to pay for us to eat out so I guess I benefit too). My spending money for the month is £100, out of which I pay for haircuts/clothes/entertainment/gifts - basically anything that isn't a bill or grocery. I know mine is high by other peoples standards, but it's comfortable for me and I all see is him having this whacking great amount of 'me' money and I'm pulling every spare penny I can towards the debts (even my grocery and me money I'm trying not to spend it all so I have extra towards the CC). There is nothing I can say to change this, last time I mentioned it he announced in a very drama queen way that it isn't worth going to work etc if he can't do anything fun at the end of it. So, I guess I plod on with this alone and hope it all works out, I can't force him to be onside but I can sleep at night knowing I am doing the best I can.

Knitty78

Well, I think OH might finally be seeing sense! We were talking last night and having children came up again. Whilst we're in negative equity we can't have kids, the flat is too small and it just isn't practical. So, OH said that apart from the holiday we have booked and paid for in September (need to save spending money which in part will come from a small bonus OH has been promised) we're going to shelve any other weekends away or holidays - including a ski holiday he has wanted to take for years and we were planning for Christmas. All money will go towards the debts and trying to save up to pick up the shortfall for the mortgage so that when we get the flat revalued next year we can just go for it!

Next plan is to really knuckle down, so far this month I have managed to sell one thing on eBay! So, I'm going to crack on with it and get listing, the sooner I can clear the debts, the sooner I can put that money towards savings. It's going to be tough to achieve all I want to before March/April next year but I think I'm going to go for it and see what happens.

Things I need to budget for that have all ready been arranged - work has a summer party next week. The original plan was to stay in a hotel with the girls and go out afterwards. The hotel has already been paid for but was only £10 per person (Travelodge special). If I stay I need spending money and the train fare home, if I tell the girls I need to leave early I can get the coach back to London which is laid on by work. The holiday in September needs spending money - we already have a bottle which we put £1 coins into for holidays, keep doing this and also use small bonus from OH work. My car insurance is due next month and it's more expensive than last year. I've started looking at price comparison sites and can't get a lower quote, so one month I think I will not overpay but pay car insurance and use what was the monthly payments as a snowball to the cards. If I can get the same but over 12 months I will, yes I pay more but it'll be a big stretch to pay in one hit.

I think that is it till the Christmas silly season. I can't get online as much as I would like to do due work, but I will try to update soon.

Knitty78

Not quite first of the month but I'm pleased to say the debt is down to £9663.71. I've not done much in the way of ebay so hopefully I can make a bit more money this month to bust those debts. Also, Husbands job contract is due to finish at the end of the month so we're waiting to see what happens there (luckily he has already been asked if he'll go back to a company he was with before but they don't have a start date or anything yet).